Borax Crystal Snowflakes

For our Science Sunday - which was actually on Monday the 6th we made Borax Crystal Snowflakes. I found the "recipe" on Martha Stewart's website. I was actually amazed at how fast the crystals formed on the pipe cleaners. Super easy project and the girls loved the finished project.

Mixing up the solution of borax and water.

We decided to make ours pink since we are pinkalicious folks.

Mieka amazed by her beautiful snowflake. :)

This picture doesn't do it justice. They are all twinkly when the lights from the Christmas tree shine on them. Unfortunately the food coloring didn't make them very pink, but they are still pretty. :)

Sinterklaas

Yay! Sinterklaas is here! We celebrated sinterklaas this year on the evening of Sunday the 5th and the morning of Monday the 6th. We started the festivities by having a fun dinner with Jen, Jan, Dan, Emilee and the kids. After a quick clean up Dave read a sinterklaas story about Miet and Piet the mice who dress up as sinterklaas. The kids then did a rousing chorus of Sinterklaas Kapoentje. Upon finishing there was a loud knock on the door and low and behold Sinterklaas had left a big bag full of toys for each of the kids. :) I need to get some pictures from Jen of the kids running to the door and opening their presents. I missed out on that.

Later the adults exchanged jokes gifts with one another. Dan got an iphone cozy, jan - a new red bow to add to her collection, dave - enough white bread to choke a horse, emilee - baking aids , jen - a spiffy bread slicer guide :) and me - home made salsa made out of the veggies i neglected to take care of in Emilee's garden. :)

The next morning the girls awoke to find that Sinterklaas had come back during the night and had brought the blessed PILLOWPETS!!! Thank you Sinterklaas!!!

Annika in utter bliss with her unicorn pillowpet.

I think Mieka loves her dolphin/whale too. :)

Live Nativity

On December 4th we got to go and see a Live Nativity in Alpine. A family and their neighbors put the nativity together using their barns. The first barn has real camels, sheep, geese, and a donkey.

Mieka did NOT like the camels! Didn't matter if they had one hump or two, she didn't want anything to do with them. :)

They also have families show different trades that people performed back then, even bread making. Each of us got to try some "traditional" bread. :)

After we left that barn we headed over to a smaller barn. It was warm and quiet. You entered and there was Mary and Joseph with a little sleeping baby Jesus. In the hush of the room you could actually imagine yourself standing there looking at the baby Jesus. What an amazing way to testify of Christ and feel His spirit!

Annika, Mieka, and Matthew watching the baby in awe. It was so sweet to watch them memorized by the little baby. :)

Mieka with her favorite "horse" - she wanted poor Janice to carry her through the whole thing.

Birds, Santa, and Tree's - Oh My!

We started off our week by making bird feeders. Unfortunately the birds haven't gotten the message that we have FREE food for them. Bummer. Hopefully they will figure it out before it gets washed off the pine cone.

On the first of December we wrote our letters to Santa. Annika was very worried that Santa wouldn't know she wanted a Pillow Pet - the pillow that's a pet! I think the Pillow Pet company must own stock in the Qubo television station. They show an ad for pillow pets every 10 minutes! Annika's favorite show - The Magic School Bus - is on that station so she's been fully indoctrinated about getting a pillow pet. The other day she was telling me the virtues of pillow pets and why she "needed" to get one. Ugh ... I hope Santa gets that letter soon!


Annika asked for:
1. A Pillow Pet - of course!
2. Spring shoes -she wants jumpy pogo shoes ... don't think Santa is going to go for this one.
3. A teddy bear
4. Clothes for her Hello Kitty.

Mieka asked for:
1. A Pillow Pet - amazing! I can only assume Annika talking about Pillow Pets non-stop has influenced her some what. :)
2. Dolly House
3. A blanket

Pretty simple stuff. :) Guess we'll see what Sinterklaas and Santa show up with. Hope there wont be too much wailing and gnashing of teeth. :)

Annika got to put Santa's letter in the mail box.

And Mieka raised the flag so it could get picked up and mailed. All Even Steven like.

On Friday (December 3rd) we were able to go to the Festival of Trees up in Sandy. The girls had a super fun time making little crafts, looking at gingerbread houses, and of course the trees. They had some great trees this year. Very creative people out there.



While walking through the exhibits Janice mentioned maybe making a gingerbread house for next years festival. I hope that we do it. That would be a great way to show our appreciation for such a great hospital and all the people that work there.

More snow and lights

On Sunday (November 28th) we had a huge snow fall! The girls saw me out there shoveling the driveway and decided that they needed to be part of it all. :) Dave brought them out to play for a bit - one of the benefits of having 11:00 church!


After church we decorated our tree. I was feeling a bit bah-humbug before the tree went up - I'm not a huge fan of decorating trees. :) But the girls had such a fun time putting on decorations that pretty soon I was caught up in their excitement.


Both girls wanted to put the star on - so we figured that it would be better to let both of them do it. Mieka flew up (via Daddy Air) and set it on the tree and then Annika flew up and straightened it out.



After the tree was decorated we made some sparkle snowflakes for the windows. Glue on wax paper covered with glitter. Next day, once it was fully dried I peeled it off the paper, put a dab of water on the back and stuck it to the window. I think we are going to make some more they were so easy!



After snowflakes we had a semi - well actually not so successful science experiment. If we had raisins it probably would have worked. It's the experiment where you put a raisin in a glass of water and baking soda. The weight of the raisin makes it drop to the bottom of the glass, but the bubbles from the baking soda make it rise. And then when the bubbles on the raisin pop it sinks again. We'll have to try it again now that we have raisins in the house. Note: rice and pasta do NOT work - no matter how much baking soda you put in. :)

Christmas Lights

Saturday night (November 27th - I'm a bit behind!) we headed out to see the lights at Thanksgiving Point. We thought that would be a good way to start out our Christmas Holidays.

This was a tree that had sprinklers running over the top of it to create a big ice sculpture. Neat idea.

Later we headed back over to Marianne and Gary's to celebrate Gary's birthday. They had a pizza cake from Maggie Moo's - super yummmm-o. I wish I would have brought our camera in to take pictures of everyone. Bummer :( Oh well - it was fun for the girls to play for a bit and for Dave and I to chat with family.

Thanks for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was with my family - who all happened to be in Utah. Yay! We started the morning with yummy turkey pancakes - stretching our stomachs out for a full spread Thanksgiving lunch. Sadly - this was the only turkey the girls ate all day. :)

A quick picture of Mieka's turkey for preschool and the turkeys that Annika's made in the past. Hello Kitty, Mickey Mouse, and Tinker Bell. :)

At 1:30 we made the journey over the river and through the woods to Marianne's house.

Family enjoying a super duper yummy dinner!

After dinner we relaxed and chatted. Lois brought some very cute little Build a Bear Kits for the girls to make. They thought this was the greatest thing ever! Almost two weeks since Thanksgiving and both girls are still carrying around and sleeping with their pets. Thank you Lois and Scott! That was their highlight of Thanksgiving. :)

Mieka with Hoppy the Bunny Cheerleader - Goooooooo Build a Bear! Yay!

Annika with Spotty the Cheetah - so chic!

After dessert the family either chatted, played games, or watched football. And Dave knitted. :) He's become quite the master of the knitting needles. I need to take some pictures of the things he made for the girls so far. He's doing great!

Mieka playing games with Val and Janae. Mieka loved playing with the big girls. :)

Over all it was a fantastic day of spending time with family. I'm so grateful that we were all able to get together and am grateful for the fantastic family that I have.